Press & Research Data Report · Citable Dataset
Steam Early Access in 2026: Update Cadence & Abandonment Statistics
As of October 2026, our automated crawler tracks 254 games currently or recently in Steam Early Access (Genre ID 70). 14 games (5.5% of catalog) have gone more than 12 months without a shipped patch note or developer community announcement on Steam.
Key Findings (October 2026 Snapshot)
- Total Tracked Catalog: 254 Steam games (verified `type = "game"` with Genre ID 70).
- 12+ Months Without Steam Activity: 14 games combine Likely Abandoned (6) and long-term Stalled projects (8).
- Actively Maintained: 219 games (86.2% of catalog) shipped a patch/build within 90 days or posted a developer update within 60 days.
- Median Time in Early Access: 17 months across active titles.
- Data source: Neon Postgres (254 rows).
Early Access Cohort Outcomes by Entry Year
| Entry Year | Entered Early Access | Graduated to 1.0 | Active / Slowing | Stalled / Abandoned (>6m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 2 | 1 (50%) | 1 | 0 (0%) |
| 2014 | 1 | 0 (0%) | 1 | 0 (0%) |
| 2015 | 4 | 0 (0%) | 4 | 0 (0%) |
| 2016 | 3 | 1 (33%) | 1 | 1 (33%) |
| 2017 | 5 | 0 (0%) | 5 | 0 (0%) |
| 2018 | 7 | 1 (14%) | 6 | 0 (0%) |
| 2019 | 9 | 0 (0%) | 6 | 3 (33%) |
| 2020 | 13 | 0 (0%) | 12 | 1 (8%) |
| 2021 | 9 | 2 (22%) | 6 | 1 (11%) |
| 2022 | 14 | 1 (7%) | 11 | 2 (14%) |
| 2023 | 18 | 0 (0%) | 14 | 4 (22%) |
| 2024 | 26 | 1 (4%) | 23 | 2 (8%) |
| 2025 | 46 | 0 (0%) | 46 | 0 (0%) |
| 2026 | 97 | 0 (0%) | 97 | 0 (0%) |
Statistical Accounting Note:
All figures above measure public Steam activity only: official developer announcements in the `steam_community_announcements` feed (`feed_type = 1`) and public depot branch timestamps via Steam PICS (`steamcmd.net`). Games whose developers post updates exclusively on external Discord servers, Patreon, or standalone blogs without pushing Steam builds or announcements are counted as inactive on Steam until verified via our Developer Correction Portal.